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, up into my face,1 and my eyes fell.
" 'Because I am a thief I said.
"The hotel clerk intimated
something like that, and I am
afraid that I hurt him he said,
and his v&ce was very softand
low.' I should have thanked him,
for" he gave me 'the courage to ask
you to be my. wife, which I might
not have had otherwise.'
" Would! vou marrv me know
ing me to "be a thieP a profes
sional thjef?' ,1 cried.
" 'I do not want to marry your
morals,' he said, 'nor yet. your
previous manner of earning your
bread and butter. I wartt to mar
ry you, Margaret, just you.'
"And then he kissed me. . . .
"I told him everything. I told
him about Jimmy the Wop. I
told him about Forsythe. ,And,
at the end of it, lhe Kissed me
again. . . ."
She stopped, and I was silent,
"Come with me," she said, after
a space. And she rose and led the
way to another part of the house.
The room was' all white and
gold daintiness. And there was
. a crib, and a wee, small "baby lay
in the crib with one thumb in his
cherubic mouth and his little
s arms and legs kicked free and
bare of covers.
We were looking down at the
baby, when there came- th"e tramp
of a heavy fpot. I looked up, and
a big man, with a flushed face
stoodvin the doorway. 'He looked
from the woman 'to me," and from
me back to the woman.
Margaret Wendon'went white
to the lips.
"This is a yery, ,pl6f-friend of
mine, Jim' she'said. "He knows
all . . . about me."
"Jim" crossed the room in a
co'uple of strides and stood in
front of me. His-big face was set
white 'and hard. His fists were
clenched and his chest heaved.
"Well," he said, "what are you
going to do about it?"
'"Congratulate you' I said, and
put out my hand.
The lines of 'fiis face melted,
and he smiled.
"That is good," he said. "Oth
erwise I should have had tc
break you in two arid hide your
body in the well or some place.
And that would have been dis
agreeable." Dick arrived soon after. He
had fixed the automobile and was
happy. We were all rather nerv
ously gay at dinner.
"Where did you know her be
fore?" he asked.
"On the ship coming from Paris
to 'New York five yeats-ago'.I
lied. . "
"Oh," "said Dick, "One of those
shipboard flirtations, I suppose."
"Something like that," I said.-
"She is a, very beautiful wom
an, isn't she?" said 'Dick.
"Yes," I said. . .
"It .isn't-that she has. such
awfully good looks," said Dick.
"It's just that she's the sort of
woman who always is destined to
become the mother' of a great
man . I ' cannot explain what
makes me feel that way about
her, but I do.' j Doesn't she im
press you the .same-way?"
"Yes,"Isaik
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